[SEPANG, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA]▬ The cabin crew announced, "Selamat datang ke Malaysia! We're now in Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2." I closed my eyes to feel this indescribable emotion hitting my limbic system now. If this is a movie, I know I'm overacting. Why? Because I just can't believe it's happening and I felt like I was the protagonist of my own novel with the rugs to riches plot. If I have to cry, I will—overacting, it is.

I didn't want to expect that I'll be capable of traveling outside the Philippines someday because I don't want to get hurt and be frustrated if it will not come to reality. But now it's happening. So just imagine that—getting something you badly wanted when you least expect it. Bliss!

The plane landed to terrestrial Malaysia. It was more than an hour late from the expected time of arrival that was emailed to me when I booked the flight; so the planned itinerary I printed on a bond paper was ruined for the very first hour.

The airport is really big. Malaysia's successful industry in aviation is inspiring. Due to heavy traffic in their airport, Malaysia built two airports under one code (KUL). KLIA2 was made for low-cost airlines and AirAsia—a Malaysia-based airline—seemed to be the favored airline here (well this is just me because I saw a lot of AirAsia planes here).

Of course, I tend to compare between anything I see here in Malaysia and the Philippines. In terms of airport, Malaysia won this time for its big, organized and busy airport. NAIA is nice too though. But KL has transformed to be one of Asia's busiest low-cost airline hub—flying to many destinations more than any other city in Asia could offer. Indeed, it's so inspiring.

KLIA2 has a mall called gateway@klia2 that serves as a one-stop shop for almost everything you need. It was not my thing though. Food, goods and services here are quite expensive. It's all about the convenience.

The next thing I should do is to face the immigration officer. This part is where everything sank into reality—the reality that I'm no longer in the Philippines after couple of minutes of disbelief that I'm already outside my beloved country. I said it sank to reality because I'm seeing an unusually huge crowd of Indians. I've never seen a big crowd of Indians like this before in a public place. Some are Chinese though and there's also a big group of white men. I am only seeing a few people with the same features as me so I'm starting to feel that I'm a foreigner.

For a first-timer like me, I'm nervous. I don't know what are the things the immigration officer shall ask. Remember, in the EPISODE 01 of this series, I almost didn't pass the stringent requirements of the Philippine immigration officers for me to leave the country. Right now, I am so afraid they might see something inside my bag that may forbid me in entering Malaysia. Well, all I know is that I didn't bring any illegal drugs, smuggled goods or anything self-incriminating but I was paranoid that someone—a member of a syndicate—might have inserted something so that I may bribe them for freedom sake or collect a fee from me. I really was a paranoid lad and please don't tell me I'm overacting because this is no longer inside the airplane where I can imagine my own fairy tale and fantasize. This is no longer a day-dream zone. It's already a zone where I need to have presence of mind, be smart and alert. I'm now inside a territory I do not call my home and I only have two choices: be a loser or a winner. My anxiety as a first-timer almost escalated to panic level. So there's no such thing as overacting—like in the fictitious movie created by my imagination back in the cabin—because sticking to reality is the name of the game here.

There were 6 counters with long queues as far as I remember. I joined one of the longest queues. I can actually queue myself to the shorter line but I thought the long line where I am now is extra special that's why it's long so I joined them. I've warned myself to prioritize safety and for security reasons, I have to go where most people go.

For a change of heart, I saw two ASEAN lanes with shorter queue. Amazing! The Malaysian immigration bureau recognizes the importance of its neighbors. My ASEAN pride prevailed over paranoia. I joined the shorter ASEAN queue with conviction that I'm safe here. I looked back to the long line where I came from and I realized that majority of them are white people.

It's my turn already and the immigration officer I faced looked like an Indian and I can see how stressing his job is yet he stayed cool and fresh. Anyway, he requested me to show my passport and asked how many days I'm going to stay in their country. He checked my passport. Afterwards, he looked to me eye to eye for a few seconds. Maybe he is making sure that I am the right person on the photo in my passport. It was pretty seamless and less taxing compared to my experience in Manila's immigration bureau. I was allowed to enter Malaysia and my passport was stamped!

I've researched greatly for this trip so I am aware that there are couches going to KL Sentral from  KLIA 2. I also booked a hotel that is near the train stations to save time. So from KLIA2, I looked for the way out of the airport terminal.

On my way, I was looking for an ATM where I can withdraw Malaysian notes (ringgit). I asked another Indian security guard where is the ATM machine and he politely pointed the direction where should I go. I chose the HSBC and the machine told me I'm not going to be charged by this transaction even though I am using a bank card issued outside this country. How nice HSBC! However, it later warned me that my own bank could charge me for a transaction done outside the Philippines.

Before this trip, I've called all the banks that issued my bank cards regarding possible charges in every transaction I'll be making outside the Philippines. For UnionBank, they do not charge. So I don't have to spend an extra buck here. I withdrew some ringgits and this is my first time to handle such.

After getting ringgit notes, I saw a booth that sells bus tickets so I inquired there if I can get a seat to KL Sentral.

I'm starting to get nervous again yet quite excited. I grew up and lived my entire life in the province so I have a relative phobia to big cities like Manila—a city where street crimes and pickpockets are plenty. Sorry, but as a child then living in the province, this is the image of Manila our local culture wanted us to believe. Whenever someone from our town travels to Manila, elders would always warn them to be aware of pickpockets and avoid walking on the streets because of the presence of drug and hold-up syndicates. Also, the movies of FPJ and Lito Lapid have become a part of local culture. Their movies back in the 90's would make every premier night a blockbuster hit in our local cinemas (before we have Consuelo, TAJ and Lyric). Their action movies would always portray Manila as a place for kidnappers, killers, drug syndicates and notorious gangsters. So don't blame me. As a person who grew up in # V I G A N

#VIGAN

and never lived in # M A N I L A

#MANILA

, this is the image of Manila registered in my mind since then and it never changed.

Anyway, I'm entering another metropolis! Boom! What I'm doing here??! Ginusto ko ito eh. For Kuala Lumpur, I don't want to judge this city the way I judge Manila (as I explained above, my judgment of Manila is personal, cultural and subjective: Mañilenos don't hate me for this—however, I'm learning to love Manila, bittersweet though).

Thinking how I will roam around this city the moment I leave this airport is stressing me. It's a big city and I'm not accustomed exploring a concrete jungle. But like most of my travels in the Philippines, I have to enter Manila first because it is my gateway to the many destinations in the south. For Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur is my gateway. My main fear here is getting lost—and the fact that in case of emergency, there's no one I know whom I can ask for help. Be good to me Kuala Lumpur. Please be good to this old-fashioned traveler who usually ditch big cities. I hope we can be good friends. I hope I'll find peace of mind in your arms. I hope you'll let me feel loved. I'm entering into a short relationship with you and I hope this is worth it. See you! / to be continued...